“Excluding Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Puttalam and other districts which are considered to be high risk, export factory owners in other areas can open up their factories, subject to health regulations,” Minister Gunewardene said.

“They have to inform their district secretaries about the problems in opening up the factories.”

Factories under Board of Investments can also open after getting the necessary approval from the investment promotion agency he said.

Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to slow down in 2020, with exports, tourism, domestic services and industry down.

The curfews were imposed to curb Coronavirus, with the health service and military aggressively tracing contacts.

Sri Lanka’s apparel exporters have said they could lose up to 1.5 billion US dollars in revenues the June quarter.

Up to April 11 only 197 persons were confirmed with Coronavirus and Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi has said controls could be relaxed after April 19 if community transmission is controlled. (Colombo/Apr11/2020)